Victoria Mullen

Born and reared in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Victoria Mullen first expressed her creativity
to a family outsider at the age of four, when she meowed at a librarian.

“This is the stuff of my mother’s memories,” says Mullen. “As a child, I fashioned fables
from thin air, fabric, and fur.”

An outsider throughout her school years—“I was excluded from groups, I was bullied,
and it was awful”—when she entered the business world right out of high school, she
was woefully unprepared. It wasn’t until she was in her late 20s that she would enter
college.

“To some people, business comes naturally. But in my case, entering the corporate
world so soon out of high school was a disaster,” Mullen says. “I was overly sensitive to
begin with, and the wolves circled ‘round and smacked their lips at this perceived
weakness. That world chewed me up and spit me out. It was not pretty.”

Mullen says that with each successive position, “I felt farther removed from reality—or,
more precisely, creativity. Very soon, I could not decipher my place in the world. That
would take many, many years, some very hard knocks, and a lot of experimentation.
And I’m still working on it.”

But if there is one huge benefit to the pain, Mullen says that it has given her empathy
and endless fodder for her acting roles. Mullen says that working in the creative fields
has been her salvation: journalism, photography, marketing, art, and most recently,
acting.

“Through the years, I have explored many different creative mediums: piano and violin
in the 1960s; stained glass, journalism, and photography in the 1970s and ’80s; creative
writing, painting, and mixed-media art since the mid-1990s.”

Mullen came late to drawing and painting because she believed that using an eraser
constituted cheating—it was impossible to create anything that was perfect, so it was
safer to do nothing at all.

That view changed when Mullen and her ex-husband began making art in the mid-
1990s. The two created art together until they parted in late 2001. Then Mullen put her
paints away. From September 2003 until May 2008, the paints gathered even more
dust, as Mullen focused her attention on the study of law.

“When I began painting again, in October 2008, my pieces came forth brighter, more
vibrant, and more playful than before,” she says. “Hmmm. I wonder why?”

– continued –

Mullen often draws upon her Greek heritage and ancient Greek mythology for making
sense of the world and her roles. She uses the Nine Muses as an example.

“The Nine Muses played, sang, danced, and inspired others to do the same,” she says.
“Each Muse oversaw a particular field of human creation.”

Of the Nine Muses, Mullen identifies most strongly with Polymnia, who, depending upon
the source, was the muse of sacred song, oratory, lyric, rhetoric, eloquence, and
pantomime.

“The ancient Greeks believed that the artist did not himself ‘create’ the work of art, but
served as a mortal channel through which the muse’s divine voice could speak,” says
Mullen. “So, an epic poet would offer a prayer to the appropriate muse to guide and
assist him in his creative endeavor.”

Mullen began acting in early 2009 on a whim as she awaited the results of the Michigan
bar exam. She now practices in the field of entertainment law and co-owns a talent
management business in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

“I can’t believe that I never explored acting until three years ago,” she says. “Up until
then, I was never in a play, not even in high school, let alone a film. Acting has opened
a whole, new world to me. It keeps me sane. I just love it.”

To date, Mullen has more than 40 film credits to her name, in short and feature-length
films, playing diverse roles. So far, she’s won a best supporting actress award and was
nominated for a best actress award.

“I’ve played professors, school principals, scientists, Alzheimer’s patients, and
grandmothers. I’ve been a paramedic, a sinister book snob, foster care parent, and
parfumier. I’ll take on just about any role, as long as it’s juicy and challenges me.”

In Coyote, Mullen plays Bill Oberst’s ill-fated love interest, Jesse.

“This role is a first for me,” says Mullen. “Casting directors don’t view me as a romantic
actress, and I’m usually not cast as a love interest. The script for Coyote is surrealistic
and fantastic, and I’m looking forward to working on this project. Even if Jesse does
come to a bad end.”